Origins and the Norman castle
The origins of Erice are inseparably linked to the sacred open-air sanctuary dedicated first to Greek Aphrodite and later to Roman Venus Erycina. The site attracted people from across the Mediterranean and remained one of the town’s most important sacred places for centuries.
The surviving fortress is largely the work of the Normans. Medieval builders reused fragments of the ancient sanctuary, while later alterations reshaped the castle and its access routes.
The Balio Gardens and towers
At the end of the nineteenth century Count Agostino Pepoli restored the Norman towers and transformed the surrounding area into the English-style Balio public garden. Together with Pepoli Tower, the complex has become one of the symbols of Erice.
The archaeological site
Finds in stone, pottery and bronze show that the rocky summit was occupied from prehistoric times. From the Archaic period onward it hosted a major sanctuary devoted to a female fertility deity, later identified by the Romans with Venus. Archaeological investigations in the twentieth century revealed part of the sacred enclosure.
